The present invention relates to a hinge lock which upon standstill of a primary control shaft blocks a driven shaft which actuates a control element and which is connected to the control shaft by a gear drive, particularly for the control hinges of slats on a giant aircraft.
The controllable slats on the leading edges of the wings of giant aircraft present, for safety reasons, the problem of instantly and absolutely rigidly blocking the controllable hinged arrangement of these slats in case of a break inside the hinge elements or in case of failure of the driving control force. This means that the control movement must proceed from the absolute fixation and rigidity of the hinges and must terminate instantly in rigidity upon ceasure of the control activity. It is necessary to consider the forces resulting from the high starting and landing speeds which are confronted by disproportionately lower control forces. The rotary speeds are such that the drive and control shafts with small torques perform a very slow fractional rotation, like the conventional servomotors. By interposing a gear reduction drive between drive shaft and the control shaft acting on the driven shaft, a suitable adaptation of the rotary speeds can be achieved.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hinge lock of the preceding species with a tangential key free-wheel lock connected to the driven shaft, with at least two facing tangential keys locking in one rotary direction and an engaging element, driven by the primary control shaft; this engaging element moves a key release between the tangential keys into a release position.